Shaq Has Arrived, But Zo Never Left

ETHAN J. SKOLNICK COMMENTARY

July 19, 2004|ETHAN J. SKOLNICK COMMENTARY

MIAMI — This was it. This was the single spot in the sports world where Alonzo Mourning was the center at the center of the basketball universe, by far the biggest and baddest baller around. Shaquille O'Neal could have Hollywood, Madison Avenue, Disney World and every Burger King in between.

Alonzo Mourning had South Florida.

Mourning, now seemingly retired for good, borrowed the area for a good cause this weekend, finishing Zo's Summer Groove 8 with his annual charity all-star game. He looked well seven months after kidney transplantation, scoring 23 in the formless scrimmage.

But whereas Summer Groove 7 felt strange because Mourning had just announced his controversial departure for New Jersey, this one was odd because it came just before the official arrival of an old rival ready to slip into Heat jersey No. 32.

Mourning, then of Georgetown, was Big East Player of the Year. O'Neal, then of LSU, was National College Player of the Year.

Mourning was drafted No. 2 overall, in 1992. A spot behind O'Neal.

Mourning was acquired from Charlotte in the most significant deal in Heat history. Until last week's.

Mourning signed a seven-year, $105 million contract in 1996. Four days later, O'Neal signed for seven years and $120 million.

Mourning was named to the 2000 Olympic team. After O'Neal declined.

Mourning reached the East Finals once. O'Neal has reached the NBA Finals five times, winning three.

Mourning earned respect with his scowl. O'Neal earned adoration with his smile, a clown always outdrawing a frown.

If an on-court rivalry never truly materialized between them, because they never faced each other in a playoff series, some off-court snippiness did surface.

O'Neal never has been as nasty about Mourning as about, say, David Robinson, but the Big Quipper hasn't always gushed either. After Mourning signed the 1996 contract, O'Neal said, "He must have a good agent," adding, "If you're going to pay 25 grand for a Beemer, you've got to pay 40 for a Benz, bro, and I'm a Benz, bro."

The rhetoric has softened over time, with O'Neal being publicly respectful after the revelation of Mourning's kidney disease.

And Mourning, still Nets property but a Heat member at heart, spent this weekend praising the move, calling it "probably one of the biggest acquisitions that this franchise has ever made" and predicting the city will benefit from added revenue.

"And it's also going to put this organization back into championship contention," Mourning said.

That was the intention in 1995, when the Heat traded for Zo, as he acknowledged.

"Unfortunately, we hit a lot of bumps in the road, with injuries and my health and shots at the buzzer, you name it," Mourning said. "Riles, he used to say it all the time, we've been snakebitten for years. Hopefully this can be a breakthrough year for them."

Mourning sounds as if he's had his own breakthrough: some closure. He talks about hoping "each and every one of these guys reaps the benefits of this league, because your time in this league is short-lived."

He sounds as if he can handle the past tense, not needing to go up for any more NBA rebounds. Going up in the arena rafters and maybe even on a wall in Springfield, Mass., might just be enough.

O'Neal's career still has a future. That future will be here. In Zo's town.

And as strange as Zo's Summer Groove 8, it still offered a reminder:

Mourning has cast a rather large shadow, too.

He cast one on the court, with his nonstop passion. He cast one in the community, embracing and lifting it as few of South Florida's athletes ever had before. He promised not to forget this area after his Heat playing days ended.

He hasn't.

All of this is worthy of O'Neal's emulation.

"I'm a man of my word," Mourning said. "Everybody, because of my relocation, people thought that I wasn't going to make a commitment to the city again. But I promised the city of Overtown, I promised the 100 Black Men [of South Florida], the Children's Homes Society, all those organizations, we'll continue to do what we need in this community. And that's enhance the lives of young people. And I'll support that until I leave this Earth."

Now the Biggest, Baddest Center on Earth, also a noted philanthropist, will make South Florida his in-season home.

O'Neal is here to do what Alonzo Mourning could not.

And, hopefully, for South Florida's sake, some of what Zo did, and keeps doing.